Salute To Agriculture Week Is Set

Friday, May 22, 2009

The 2009 Lawrence County Salute to Agriculture Week has been set for May 31st--June 6th. The Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce and the Salute to Agriculture Committee has planned a fun filled week of agriculture related activities.

This year our theme is "Homegrown". Attached below is a schedule of events for the week. The highlight of the week is our Farmer Appreciation Breakfast. The breakfast will be held on Tuesday, June 2nd at 7:30am. at the Lawrence County High School Cafeteria.

Homegrown Demonstration Day

As a part of “Salute to Agriculture Week” and keeping with our 2009 theme of “Homegrown”, UT/TSU Extension will be offering a series of workshops and demonstrations on a variety of topics. The Homegrown Demonstration Day will take place on Monday, June 1 beginning at 8:30am. The location will be the Lawrence County Extension Office located at 2385 Buffalo Rd. Here is the schedule of the demonstrations:

            Canning & Preserving            8:30am.            Margie Hudson & Wendel Smith Bring in your canner to be tested for proper working order
            Growing Vegetables             9:30am.            Calvin Bryant
            Growing & Using Herbs      10:30am.          Margie Hudson & Wendel Smith
            Composting                        11:30am.          Kenneth Jones

The UT/TSU Extension Office in Lawrence County is a branch of the University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University that offers information, resources, and programs in Agriculture, Horticulture, Family and Consumer Science, Community Resource Development, and 4-H Youth Development. In addition to the above demonstrations the Lawrence County Extension office will have an open house and encourage participants browse through the publications and resource material available right here in Lawrence County. The Lawrence County Extension Office has a tremendous amount of UT Based Researched Publications to assist farmers, gardeners, homemakers, and the general public. Publications are available from raising Honeybees to Fruit Trees, Farm Pond Management to Commercial Catfish Production, Backyard Poultry Flock to Curing Country Hams, Early Childhood Development to Gardening for Nutrition.

Lawrence County Extension Agents will be on hand all morning to assist with questions about all things homegrown. Participants are encouraged to bring in samples for diagnosis of disease, insect, or weed problems. One service the Lawrence County Extension office has is Distance Diagnosis of pest problems. Many times Extension Agents can first hand recognize pest problems and provide appropriate recommendations. Other times the diagnosis is more difficult and agents will utilize the UT Extension Distance Diagnosis Service, where digital images are taken of the pest problem and sent electronically to subject matter specialist for diagnosis. This process allows more timely diagnosis of pest problems for farmers and gardeners.